Killing For Peace: An Oxymoron

by John deLaubenfels

A remarkable number of Jewish people are immensely talented.  Among their numbers are found many fine musicians, scientists (including that quintessential scientific intellectual, Albert Einstein), lawyers, bankers, etc. etc. etc.

The state of Israel, made up largely of Jewish people, might possibly boast being the most intelligent, on average, in the whole world.  So why is it that Israel seems determined to take the worst possible course to combating terrorism?  Is the world's smartest nation also the world's most stupid?

The Israelis seem fixated on the idea that they can kill their way to peace.  Compared to their neighbors, they've got far superior weaponry, and they use it with ruthless efficiency, yet the more Palestinians they kill, the worse things get.  From their behavior, one might conclude that they are perversely determined to aid in the recruitment of 100% of the young men in surrounding lands into suicide missions against them.

Someone needs to help Israel get a clue. 

Let's start with the extra-judicial killings of people they suspect of being particular enemies.  In the most recent example, two carloads of innocent women and children were blown to bloody bits, but the man they were after wasn't among them.  Ooooops!  Sorry ma'am, our mistake. 

Ma'am? 

What are they thinking?  More commonly, the target of their wrath IS in the car, along with his family and other innocent people, but the Israelis blast them all anyway.  Are they so blind that they can't fathom the intense depths of anger that such arrogant behavior engenders? 

I am not calling for a dissolution of the state of Israel.  Still, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Israel's creation, half a century ago, was a terribly flawed process, with the U.S. and its allies taking a know-nothing, do-nothing attitude toward the abuses directed at the Palestinians who had lived on the land for centuries.  Many fled, leaving their land behind to be confiscated by the new government. 

There are a wealth of injustices, right out of the starting gate, that have yet to be righted, but the passage of time, and the deaths of a majority of those who were displaced in the mid 20th century, gradually blunt the claim to reparations that others might have against Israel.

The surrounding nations also behaved badly at the time, massing troops on all sides, hoping to stamp Israel out by force.  The attempt failed, as did subsequent tries, and in hindsight probably sabotaged what might otherwise have been favorable press around the world for the plight of the Palestinians who had been uprooted.  Israel successfully painted itself, in the West at least, as a poor underdog menaced by bullies.  And to a great extent, at the time, that was true.

How things have changed!  Israel has far outpaced its neighbors in offensive weaponry.  They even have The Bomb, and have had for decades. Compared to Israel, their enemies have almost nothing.

Almost nothing, that is, except a fierce determination to right the wrongs that Israel heaps upon them daily.  Every time Israel goes blasting into other lands, bulldozing, bombing, and shooting, a few more young men sign up for suicide duty, and we see the results in the news every day.

There is no end in sight, and no hope of peace for Israel, unless this absurd spiral of violence is checked.  Since they hold, and use, all of the most powerful weapons, a change in strategy must come from them, not from their enemies.

Given that Israel is leading the way in showing the world how NOT to wage war against terrorism, why, I wonder, is the U.S. so hell-bent on adopting the same strategy?  Of course I support going after and prosecuting the people who masterminded the destruction of 9-11, but George "Shrub" Bush has let war fever delude him into thinking that we can kill our way to peace.  Not content with leveling anything that moves in Afghanistan, he's beating the drums to go after Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.  And why?  Because they are working on "weapons of mass destruction."   Huh??

Yes, Saddam Hussein is playing with some nasty weapons, but let us not forget that nobody has nearly as many weapons of mass destruction as the U.S. itself.  Ah, but we're so trustworthy, aren't we?  No, we most certainly are not!  Look at the death and despair we're imposing in Bolivia, in the name of the futile War on Drugs.  Ditto Colombia.  Ditto nations all around the globe.  Even if we limit our count to countries we've actually bombed recently, Saddam Hussein and his counterparts in Iran and North Korea seem like decidedly small potatoes.

I'm not saying I'm not afraid.  I'm more or less constantly afraid, and a part of that fear is from the possibility that people outside the U.S. who mean us harm might DO us harm, another 9-11 or worse.  But, unlike many in this nation, I want to use my fear to do something constructive, rather than switching off my brain and yelling, "KILL!!  KILL!!  KILL!!"

Because that's what Israel is doing, and if we needed any proof other than common sense to realize it's counterproductive, they have provided it.  Let's stop following them down the road to self-destruction.